Quote:
Originally Posted by crazee horse
i just cant believe the clarity of the shots. this is probably a really stupid question, but why cant we see anything like that in the u.k?
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Do you mean why can't we see the same with a telescope and our eyes? Well there are several reasons.
Firstly Lodrigus is very talented, works hard at his craft, and has some very high quality and expensive equipment. Many of these pictures were taken by exposing a sensor/emulsion to light for a long time. Hence a lot of the images are of things that we cannot see, as our eyes are not sensitive enough.
Secondly, the human eye cannot see colour when the light levels drop below a certain value. So even when we can see some of the objects he photographs, we see them as black and white.
You CAN see many of the nebulae and galaxies, given a reasonably dark sky. I have seen the Andromeda galaxy M31 (it looks like a fried egg), and it is easy to see in binoculars if you know where to look. I have seen the galaxies M81 and M82 with a telescope and they are not too hard to find given dark skies. And of course the Orion nebula is an easy one. But none of these will be anything like in the photos.
Unfortunately UK skies are often polluted with street lights. I used to visit my late mother in South Devon, and would sometimes drive to the countryside to enjoy magnificant pitch black skies that reached down to the sea. IMO one of the great wonders of the world is to witness a pitch black sky, especially if you have some binoculars and perhaps a small telescope.
Incidentally there are some UK photographers producing similar quality images. There is one in Hertfordshire or Bedfordshire. Sadly his name escapes me.